Scotland, Northern Highlands. Distillery operational. Owner: Diageo

Founded in 1967 on the site of its renowned colleague Clynelish #1 (renamed Brora in 1969), from which it takes its name, Clynelish began production in June 1968. At the cutting edge of technology, it tripled Brora's production capacity. Like Caol Ila, its peaty alter ego from Islay, the majority of its production was at the time fated to be absorbed by the blend Johnnie Walker. It would not be until 1994 that the first official versions would be released in the Rare Malts Selection for its vintage versions with high ABVs (Clynelish 1972, 23 Year Old, 63%), then in the Flora & Fauna range (Clynelish 14 Year Old, 43%), and finally in the Flora & Fauna Cask Strength range launched in 1997, which introduced a 1982 vintage.Niche and rare in the 80s and 90s, Clynelish was brought into the spotlight by independent bottlers (Gordon & MacPhail, Cadenhead, Signatory Vintage) who took the single malt in hand, offering numerous vintage and aged small batch and single cask versions, such as Clynelish 12 Year Old Orange Label Gordon & MacPhail, Clynelish 28 Year old 1971 Signatory Vintage and Clynelish 1972 Cask Strength Cadenhead.

A Clynelish Distillers Edition distilled in 1991 and bottled in 2006. The Distillers Editions are versions of the whiskies found in the 1988 Classic Malts range featuring a special finish. The Clynelish version was finished in Oloroso Seco casks. This was the first edition of Clynelish released in the range.